Markeshia Ricks
A new raised obstruction slows a Chapel Street motorist.
Instead of zooming by as usual, drivers approached with caution a new square island in the middle of the street just a few feet away from the intersection of Chapel Street at Alden Avenue.
That new driving pattern is just what the city’s engineer, traffic chief and nearby neighbors had in mind.
Instead of a straight shot from the traffic light from Central Avenue all the way to Forest Road, drivers suddenly had to slow down this week to maneuver their cars closer to the sidewalk, to get around the islands. They then had to drive back through a newly narrowed intersection at Alden Avenue and Chapel Street. Once they cleared the intersection, they had to do the same thing to make their way to Forest Road.
Bump-outs make the trek across Chapel Street a shorter commute for pedestrians.
Giovanni Zinn and Doug Hausladen stood at the corner of the now narrower intersection of those two streets Tuesday explaining how the two brand new man-made islands in the street and sidewalk and the nearly 10-foot extension of the sidewalks into the street known as “bump-outs” came to be slowing drivers down.
Zinn said that the high rate of traffic and speed on Chapel Street heading toward Forest Road, particularly in the area around Alden Avenue, had been a nuisance for nearby neighbors for some time. The city put in a radar speed alert sign, which in addition to telling drivers when they exceeded the 25 miles per hour speed limit, collects data for the city. Hausladen said city officials learned for sure that drivers had a habit of routinely speeding through the area, just as neighbors had anecdotally reported.
The one and only traffic signal that drivers have to contend with on the wide and flat Westville speedway stretch of Chapel Street is at Central Avenue. After a walk and talk with neighbors and Alder Adam Marchand back in April (similar to this tour that took place last week in Beaver Hills), the men knew the city could do more to slow traffic down.
Mayor Harp clears the first island while passing along Chapel on Tuesday.
“When you meet on the street, people stick their heads out of their doors,” Zinn said of the value of walking and talking with neighbors over holding a meeting in a school or downtown at City Hall. “It draws a lot more attention.”
Hausladen said that neighbors had initially clamored for speed bumps. But because of the high volume of traffic and the width of the roadway, it was determined that such additions wouldn’t be the best option. When he and Zinn described the square islands and the bump-outs which would naturally force people to slow down, neighbors approved.
It took about a week and a half to construct the two islands and the bump-outs at each corner of the intersection. New signs alerting people to the new configuration of the street and cautioning them to stay to the right of the islands, much like signage found at roundabouts, will be added soon. Hausladen also said that more striping paint will be added to the street and a planting day with neighbors will be held to fill in the islands with perennials and other plants will too.
The city has been occasionally testing inexpensive traffic calming solutions throughout the city with large plant holders and delineator tubes. The islands and the curb bump-outs are a mid-range, more permanent solution. Hausladen said the whole project will cost the city about $30,000 once it’s complete.
The islands on Chapel Street are not new to the city. “They’ve worked out well on Cleveland Road,” Hausladen said.
The start of improvements coming to Greenwich Avenue and First Street.
This stretch of street in Westville isn’t the only one getting a traffic-calming bump. Over the course of the summer the Hill neighborhood has had a number of speed bumps added to its streets. Again, walking around with neighbors and alders like David Reyes in May allowed Zinn and Hausladen to determine that the area was ripe for such traffic calming measures. Speed bumps have been added to Truman Street, Greenwich and Hallock avenues, and Adeline and Morris streets.
Hausladen said speed bumps were right for these streets because of the density of the population in the area and the narrowness of the streets. Improvements are also being made at the intersection of Greenwich Avenue and First Street to make it safer for the large number of children who use the nearby playground at Galvin Park to cross the street.
He said that the improvements help the city meet the objectives of its Complete Streets program, which calls for using street design principals that not only make the city more walkable and bikeable, but also improve access to schools, services and jobs.
“If we’re not doing those things with what we’re doing,” Hausladen said, “what’s the point?”
Awesome! Hausladen for Mayor! (after Harp retires...)
How about some traffic calming for George Street downtown? Between Park & Temple streets cars are routinely clocking 40-50mph on an extra-wide strip that feels like a highway. This is a heavy pedestrian zone, and it is only a matter of time before someone gets clipped and hurt badly.
Why not longer-term metered parking on the north side of the street? Right now there are four blocks where revenues could easily be generated.
But kudos to Zinn and Hausladen. We need more of these cheap solutions for safer streets!